Jealousy and Gender Final

This topic submitted by Sarah Shook (shooksa@muohio.edu) at 10:42 pm on 5/3/01. Additions were last made on Thursday, May 3, 2001. Section: Myers.

Jealousy and Gender
A Study by Sarah Shook
NS 2 Chris Myers
Spring Semester 2001

Abstract:
This project is a study looking at jealousy patterns as related primarily to Gender. I attempted through 100 surveys of Miami University students, 50 female and 50 male (main campus and Western) to gain a greater understanding of jealous behaviors. The hypothesis was that males were generally more jealous about sexual actions (such as a one night stand) and females would be more jealous regarding casual “friendship” relations. This idea was drawn from the psychobiological view that males are more interested in looking out for their partners in terms of sexual reproductive success, while females are more interested in keeping the partner around to raise the offspring. The hypothesis was not proven correct through the methods used in this study; however, the foundation work has been laid for a more conclusive study in the future.

Introduction:
Jealousy is a universal behavior, found throughout human history. It is often played off gallantly in the movies, or satirized on television, but to get to the heart of the jealousy maze is more difficult than these medias would lead us to believe. The psychobiological view of jealous behavior is one that can be used to explain many of the seemingly “natural” reactions of humans in relationships. “Male jealousy should focus on sexual infidelity, and males should be quite unforgiving of it; a female, though she'll hardly applaud a partners extracurricular activities, since they consume time and divert resources should be more concerned with emotional infidelity--the sort of magnetic commitment to another woman that could eventually lead to a much larger diversion of resources." (Wright 66) This theory is the basis of this study’s hypothesis; that males will be more jealous in situations involving perceived (or actual) sexual competition, and females will react in a more jealous manner when areas of commitment are involved.
I came to decide on this project due to some personal experiences that I had with jealous individuals in my life. After reading about Wright’s ideas on the subject, I decided that it would be a great subject to delve into farther. As for the specific questions in the survey, they were compiled after reading different sources on jealousy and jealous behavior in an attempt to rank people’s feelings on more sexual and non-sexual jealousy. I had hoped to accomplish through this survey a general feeling of college students jealousy behaviors. I also hoped to prove (or disprove) the hypothesis that is based on the psychobiological viewpoint of Wright.
Research in this area is very interesting because you can easily apply it to your own life. “One of the best documented gender differences is that men are more threatened by the sexual aspects of the rival relationship, whereas women are more threatened by the potential loss of the primary relationship.” (White-Mullen, 127) This is also the most visible way that jealousy plays out in our relationships each day. Even if a statistically conclusive result doesn’t come out of this project, I have learned a lot about human behavior and reasons that people act in the ways that they do. An interesting idea that came up in my research that I’d like to explore further is that “the possibility that jealousy isn’t all bad; it may have a good side.” (Mathes, ix) This is an idea that I had never thought of before, and would be worth pursuing farther.

Methods:
This study took place in several steps. First, I did readings on various aspects of jealousy and jealous behavior (see works consulted). After finding out more on the topic, I then began to formulate questions for a possible survey. The preliminary survey that I came up with follows in Appendix A. After giving out this survey to the class, and receiving feedback from the poster presentation, the survey was revised into its final format, which is in Appendix B. These surveys were then copied and given out to 100 Miami University students. Sixty percent of these students lived on Western, and forty percent lived on Main campus. All surveys were taken in Residence Halls, so it can be assumed that this was mainly an on-campus population surveyed. After collecting the completed surveys, the data was entered into an Excel spreadsheet for comparison and analysis.
The first question that of gender was an obvious choice, as our hypothesis was based on gender differences. In our sample we had 50 males and 50 females, making an equal comparison base from which to start. The second question of sexual orientation was entered as another way to categorize the data. Though our hypothesis does not differentiate between sexual orientation, it seemed like an interesting variable to split by if the results looked different in a drastic way between heterosexual and homosexual/ bisexual communities. In the final data tabulation however, there was no visible difference in the data; therefore, all subjects were tabulated together regardless of their sexual orientation. The question of relationship status was asked in order to compare jealousy ratings between all single, dating casual, and dating monogamous persons. The number of sexual partners question was decided on in the same manner, in order to see if there appeared to be a correlation between virgins and non-virgins regarding jealousy.
As for the five numbered questions, each measured jealousy on a scale of 1 being strongly jealous and 5 being not jealous at all. Questions one and three were more geared toward sexual interaction jealousy, where, in our hypothesis, men should have had the higher jealousy rating on average. Whereas, questions two, four, and five were more geared to commitment related jealousy, where females should have scored higher (according to the hypothesis). Once all of the data was entered into Excel, the analysis began.

Results:
As the project has wound to a close, there are some conclusions that can be drawn from this research, as well as questions that still need to be answered. When comparing the average response number to each question, females ended up scoring as the most jealous group in each comparison that was tested. On each question that was asked, the average response for women was lower than that of males, corresponding to a higher feeling of jealousy. When comparing averages, Western females were the most jealous, scoring the lowest on questions one, two, and five. Conversely, Western males were the least jealous, scoring highest on questions one, two, four and five. It was interesting to note that main campus males were never the most or least jealous respondents on any question, as for main campus females; they scored as most jealous on questions three and four.
Other data that is worth noting are the average number of sexual partners. This data was surprising in that when tabulating the average of all males, the number was 3, but for all females the average was 1.75. This seems to go along with the stereotype of guys “sleeping around”, however, nothing can be said for certain. Also interesting to note is the overall dating status of the population that was surveyed. 15 of the respondents were dating casually, 35 were dating monogamously, and 49 were single.

Conclusion:
After many tiring hours of trying to figure out statistics and graphs, I have come to some final conclusion about this project. Although the hypothesis was that males would be more jealous, in actuality that was not the case. For each question, females were the more jealous respondents. In the graphs in the appendix, you can see the distribution of responses to each question. Thought these responses varied, they were not as mixed as I had originally thought that they would be.
Though the original hypothesis was that males would be more jealous in situations regarding sex, and females in situations regarding the loss of the relationship, it has been proven false by this survey. However, this does not necessarily mean that this converse of the hypothesis is true; there are many variables that were not accounted for fully, and, therefore could have skewed the data.
If this project were to be done again, many things would need to be changed. First, the phrasing of the question "Would it be a crisis if..." seemed to be geared to female thinking rather than male, and therefore may have messed up some of the answers. I t would be necessary to find more unbiased language to use. There also would need to be an equal number of sexual questions as well as non-sexual questions, so that they could be more easily compared. Perhaps looking at married couples as well as college students would also be helpful as a comparison point.
Many things fell through the cracks in this study, due to outside influences beyond my control, however there is still valuable knowledge to be gained from what has been collected. The fact that the Western males were often less jealous than all other groups, leads one to ask why that would be? Also, the fact that Western females were both most and least jealous on 2 different questions is interesting.
This research study fits in with many others that have been done in the past. If done on a more full-scale level, the results could be useful in learning about human relationships. I especially think that the college years are when many people first begin to act on feelings of jealousy in a relationship, and therefore, need to be studied in-depth. Overall, the work that was done in this study, combined with the insight of others, could give a solid foundation from which to spring when undertaking a similar topic in the future.

Bibliography:
David M. Buss. The Dangerous Passion : Why Jealousy is as Necessary as Love and Sex. New York : Free Press, c2000
Kathleen Fullerton Bernhard; James E. Bernhard, editor. Jealousy, Its Nature and Treatment.
Springfield, Ill., U.S.A. : Thomas, c1986
Eugene W. Mathes. Jealousy : The Psychological Data. Lanham, Md. : Univesity Press of America, c1992
Eugene Schoenfeld. Jealousy, Taming the Green-eyed Monster. New York : Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1980, c1979
Gregory L. White, Paul E. Mullen. Jealousy : Theory, Research, and Clinical Strategies. New York, NY : Guilford Press, 1989

Appendix A: Preliminary Data Sheet:
Age: ______
Sex: m f
Sexual Orientation:
___ heterosexual
___ homosexual
___ bisexual
Relationship status:
___ single
___ dating (casual)
___ dating (monogamous)
___ engaged
___ married
How many sexual partners have you had? ____
Please rate the following statements on a scale of 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree)
Thinking or hearing about your partner’s former lover or romantic evolvement with others makes you jealous.
At parties you are aware of every move or gesture your partner makes.
It would be a major crisis if you discovered that your partner had casual sexual intercourse with someone else.
It would be a major emotional crisis if you discovered that your partner had a continuing emotionally bonded relationship (that did not involve sex) with someone else.

Appendix B: Final Data Sheet:
Sex: female male
Sexual Orientation: heterosexual homosexual bisexual
Relationship status: single dating (casual) dating (monogamous) engaged married
Number of people you have referred to as your partner/ girlfriend/ boyfriend: 0 1-10 10+
How many sexual partners have you had? ____
Please rate the following statements on a scale of 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree)
1.) Thinking or hearing about your partner’s former lover(s) or romantic evolvement(s) makes you jealous.
1…………..2…………...3…………...4………………..5
2.) At parties you are aware of every move or gesture your partner makes.
1………..…..2…………...3…………...4………………..5
3.) It would be a major crisis if you discovered that your partner had casual sexual relations with someone else.
1……………...2………..…..3……………..4………………..5
4.) It would be a major crisis if you discovered that your partner had a continuing emotionally bonded friendship (that did not involve sexual relations) with someone else.
1………….…..2……………..3……………...4……………....5
5.) You are often jealous of your partner’s friends, even if you know that your partner is not sexually involved with them.
1……………...2……….…..3………………..4…………..…..5